Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Our Abridged Story

Upon the threats of my God sons mother…and let me know if this is fair... always seems to use my God son as ammo when she wants or DOESN’T want me to do something, date someone, go somewhere…though…I guess for the record I should say she is almost always right and I PROBABLY should let her run my life or at least listen to her more.  Anyways she requested we blog more.  I KNOW it’s been a minute or two sine we have written anything but I have to tell you man…its getting down to the wire over here!  Loo will be flying into the Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. 8 DAYS!!!!!! EIGHT DAYS!!!! (You can’t capitalize numbers so you have to write them out to convey extreme emotion).  I have to tell you i am SUPER excited! I am PRETTY sure I remember what her voice sounds like but again…there was tequila involved the second time I talked to her and the first I was trying not to throw up all over brand new Lululemon stuff I had yet to purchase.  I will DEF recognize my fellow Glamazon in arms when she walked through the gates at the airport mostly because she will be taller than everyone else! For the first time in my life I am going to be on a team where everyone will refer to me as “the short one”!
So this weekend was LONG.  Those of you who have been on my FB know that I participated in the Fredericksburg R.A.T. race this Saturday. This was comprised of 4 miles in a canoe (which I have never done) 10 miles on my mountain bike (which we all know I am SUPER awesome at riding) and a 5.2 mile trail run.  IT WAS HARD! Canoeing is way harder than Daniel Day Lewis made it look in Last of the Mohicans.  I managed to run DIRECTLY into what can only be described as a tribute to Plymouth Rock and greatly injure the shins of my partner.  The bike was better than I have done but it took us QUITE some time to make it the whole ride and I look like I have been karate kicking boulders.  I am about 1 day away from saying eff it and getting spray tanned these legs are a MESS. By the time it was time to run it was about 85% humidity and 90 degrees out so needless to say but I will say it anyways…man…IT WAD HARD.  LITERALLY the only thing that got me through the run was knowing that at that exact moment on the other side of the country Loo was doing lateral burpees over a man made life sized cross.  I purposely stayed 50 yards behind Zeal so that he couldn’t hear me groaning “why won’t this just end” I was a BRAT! But after the race I gathered at the barn with a few friends and we drank margaritas out of hub caps and played catch phrase until we could no longer understand the ramblings of the drunk NC born man trying to describe accurately so we would guess “Renee Zelwigger” (sp) he was NOT successful.  It was a great weekend topped off by a Sunday trip to REI for Loo and my food for the race and some Lululemon for me for being so very very good that weekend!
Ready to get mushy??? I wanted to finally tell you all the story of “us” not the whole story but the abridged version (you we are going to make you all buy the book).  This is actually just the letter I was going to send to CF journal for publication but we never got a response for it so I figured let’s not let it go to waste.
“What we do in life echoes in eternity” This quote resonates more than simply the expert script writing and convincing delivery of Hollywood.  You will remember the greatest parts of your life and it is your choice whether those bullets are positive or negative.  This story illustrates just that idea.  You can choose to allow dark moments to dictate who you are or you can choose through discomfort to turn from the dark into the light. 
There are moments, songs, smells, snapshots and people that will paint the portraits of an individual’s integrity, demeanor and exuberant presence.  Two people have accidentally become each other’s catalyst for incomparable personal growth.  The path we have forged was blazed with fire and passion.  We ignited a massive emotional explosion and in its wake, littered behind us were all of the scarred wounds, self doubt, hung heads, weakness and pity we ever had for ourselves.  We have replaced every single one of those things with tenacity, strength, power and a kindred friendship. 
The basis of our friendship is not by ANY means normal in accordance to social standards.  We were, for lack of a better word, nemeses from our very first accidental yet fated encounter.   We inherently blamed on another for the misguided actions of another and yes if you are intuitive enough you will quickly figure out that we were set at each other’s throats at the hands of a man who did not know how to properly handle either of us.  Having your cake and eating it to, does not bode well in the world of a Glamazon.  His role in our creation is miniscule he was merely a vessel nothing more, so to get into any specifics of the situation would be both invalid and moot.  There are a select few privy to the knowledge and full back story, however, no one more so than the two of us and for the moment we will keep it that way.  Because of his callousness we have found in the world and in one another, appropriately on the opposite sides of the country, a true ally in arms.
In the beginning we would spiral.  Going on and on about things that no longer mattered, things that couldn’t be changed, things from which we needed to learn.  After we had the hours of dredging through emotions and anger and all the hurt we made a pact.  We would not let the insecure actions of a misguided person mandate our relationship.  In order to keep our sanity we focused on dial in motivation to push through tough workouts.  We found ourselves feeding off the strengths of one another to push our physical accomplishments.  We found ourselves getting to know each other.  We would submit daily text messages with the brutal punishment we had put ourselves through and describe eloquently how much we loved the pain.  It was healing for us.  It was commiseration in something other than the obvious. 
Every day we tested our mental toughness, looked for our threshold/work capacity, and pushed our limits to new levels.   All of these are based firmly on the backs of strength, stamina, endurance, mental toughness.
This went on for several weeks.  It was our therapy.  We looked forward to the daily challenges set out by each other.  It only seemed fitting that we continue to push ourselves past what we knew we could accomplish.  Strangely there was no competition between us.  We didn’t try to overrun or impress, out do or dominate each other…everyone else …yes…each other no.  It was a life line and the purest form of motivation.  It made us wonder what else we could do made us wonder where our breaking point was.  We found our next hurdle to overcome.  We mended hearts broke bodies and now wanted to face death.  The Peak Death Race was the closest thing we could find and Loo was the first person I thought to ask and she accepted BLINDLY.
We can’t train specifically for what is ahead of us we can only hope that our bodies and physical capabilities are well rounded enough to be ready for anything. Hike, climb, move heavy objects, carry gear on back, test intelligence, agility skills.  We don’t get a gear list until the last minute…any clue to what will be thrown at us will give us an advantage in training.  We must have endurance, yet be quick. Will require us to think and strategize. When to push fast, when to pace ourselves, knowing to gain ground in our "wheelhouse", how to battle through our weak skills.  We cannot be defined by our limitations.

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